ART: IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER #1

Art has always been a passion of mine. And while I have many different reasons for loving it, I have never been able to sum it up in any kind of general explanation. In simplistic terms: someone had an idea and followed through with it, it’s unique, I like it. That’s pretty much it. It brings me joy – plain and simple. I have been meaning to document my art for prosperity and to share with others, so here goes. Bits and Pieces. This might take awhile…

A SWISH FOR DORIS



This was the second
Michalopoulos painting I bought, so I am not sure why I am starting with this one. I purchased this one around 1995 – 1996. I had just finished paying off my first Michalopoulos painting and was anxious for another. Not seeing anything I liked in the gallery, the gallery director (who I had grown close to from showing up every week with my payments) let me go in the back storage and rummage through the paintings. I chose, “A Swish for Doris.” At the time, I didn’t know the name of the painting. It wasn’t until Michalopoulos’s first book came and I was flipping through it that I discovered its name. The feeling was surreal. My whole life devouring art books, and here something I owned was actually in one. I think my exact thought was, “Holy shit!” I’ll never forget that moment.



I like this painting on many levels. One: straight-up nostalgia factor. I learned how to drive on a 1964 Ford Fairlane (and it is still at my parents’ house waiting for me to reclaim it). There is something so sexy (you can really stretch out in them) and so freeing about cars of that era. What has always attracted me to Michalopoulos’s paintings is his sense of movement. Everything flows without being intrusive. Although the woman’s face in the painting is not really defined, you can tell she is out for an adventure. Independent and free – Where is she going with the top down in the middle of the night?






But the star of the picture is, of course, the car. It seems to match the general theme of liberty and latitude. I can’t think of any modern car that seems to buzz, “Drive me, please!”



And this one does. It’s a favorite.